Mezzetino (painting)

Mezzetino (transl. Mezzetin; French: Mézetin) is a 1718-1719 painting by French painter Antoine Watteau, showing the Commedia dell'arte character of the same name. It was once owned by Catherine II of Russia, and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. [1]

Mezzetino
Artist	Jean-Antoine Watteau
Year	c. 1718–20
Medium	Oil on canvas
Subject	Mezzetino playing guitar
Dimensions	55.2 cm × 43.2 cm (21.7 in × 17.0 in)
Location	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Accession	34.138

Mezzetino was a comedy character, based on Harlequin but with his own distinctive costume, who was introduced for the first time by the Théâtre italien de Paris actor Angelo Costantini on October 16, 1683. Constantini's expressive face allowed him to portray the role without a mask, a tradition kept alive by all successive Mezzetinos. That novelty attracted Watteau, who featured Mezzetino in several of his works.[2]

In the picture Mezzetino is playing his guitar and singing, his eyes lifted as if towards an unseen balcony. The statue of Venus behind him is facing away, suggesting that his feelings are not shared by the lady she represents. Although the model for Mezzetino is not known, the fact that Jean de Jullienne, the friend and patron of Watteau, kept the painting all his life suggests he may have fulfilled the role.[3]

The picture was later engraved by Audran the Elder for a collection in two volumes of the works of Watteau (271 plates), published by Jullienne, who devoted a portion of his fortune to memorializing the works of his late good friend.

The work may be found in the Metropolitan Museum's Gallery 630.

Exhibition history

List of exhibitions featuring the work

Year	Title	Location	Cat. no.
1922–1925	Temporary exhibition of new acqusition from French painting of the 17th and 18th centuries	Hermitage Museum, Petrograd (later Leningrad)	*
1934	A Century of Progress	Art Institute, Chicago	154
1935	Exposition de l'art français au XVIIIe siècle / Udstillingen af frankrigs kunst fra det XVIII. aarhundrede	Charlottenborg Palace, Copenhagen	260
	French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	5
1937	Chefs d'œuvre de l'art français	Palais National des Arts, Paris	231
1951	Wildenstein Jubilee Loan Exhibition, 1901-1951: Masterpieces From Museums and Private Collections	Wildenstein & Company Building, New York	17
1952–1953	Art Treasures of the Metropolitan	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	127
1970	Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	*
1970–1971	Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	303
1977	Paris — New York, A Continuing Romance	Wildenstein & Company Building, New York	54
1984–1985	Watteau 1684–1721	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin	P. 49
2003–2004	The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting	National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin	10
2009	Watteau, Music, and Theater	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	12
General references: Grasselli, Rosenberg & Parmantier 1984, pp. 364–365 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGrasselliRosenbergParmantier1984 (help); Baejter 2010. "*" denotes an unnumbered entry.

References

1. "Mezzetin". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
2. Moureau 1992, p. 123.
3. Grasselli et al. 1984, p. 364. sfn error: no target: CITEREFGrasselli_et_al.1984 (help)

Bibliography

• Grasselli, Margaret Morgan; Rosenberg, Pierre & Paramantier, Nicole, eds. (1984). Watteau, 1684-1721 ; National Gallery of Art, June 17—September 23, 1984; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, October 23, 1984—January 28, 1985; Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, February 22—May 26, 1985. Washington: National Gallery of Art. ISBN 0-89468-074-9. OCLC 557740787 – via the National Gallery of Art archive.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Moureau, François (1992). De Gherardi à Watteau. Paris: Klincksieck. p. 123. ISBN 978-2-25202-822-3.
• Wehle, Harry B. (January 1935). "Le Mezzetin by Antoine Watteau". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 30 (1): 12–18. JSTOR 3255436.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Adhémar, Hélène (1950). Watteau; sa vie, son oeuvre (in French). Includes "L’univers de Watteau", an introduction by René Huyghe. Paris: P. Tisné. OCLC 853537.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Baetjer, Katharine, ed. (2009). Watteau, Music, and Theater. Rosenberg, Pierre (an introduction by); Cowart, Georgia J. (an essay by). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 44–47, 84–85. ISBN 978-1-58839-335-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Benois, A. N. (1997) [originally published ca. 1911]. Путеводитель по картинной галерее Императорского Эрмитажа (in Russian). Moscow: Izobrazitel'noe iskusstvo. ISBN 5-85200-213-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Camesasca, Ettore, ed. (1971). The Complete Painting of Watteau. Classics of the World's Great Art. Introduction by John Sutherland. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 121–122, cat. no. 193. ISBN 0810955253. OCLC 143069 – via the Internet Archive.
• Dargenty, G. (1891). Antoine Watteau. Les Artistes Célèbres (in French). Paris: Librarie de l'Art. p. 63. OCLC 1039952242 – via the Internet Archive.
• Europe in the Age of Monarchy. Introduction by John T. Spike. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987. p. 146. ISBN 0-87099-449-2 – via Google Books.CS1 maint: others (link)
• Goncourt, Edmond de (1875). Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau. Paris: Rapilly. pp. 80–81. OCLC 1041772738 – via the Internet Archive.
• Hédouin, P. (1856). Mosaïque. Peintres, musiciens, littérateurs, artistes dramatiques à partir du 15e siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Paris: Heugel. p. 98. OCLC 1157159285 – via the Internet Archive.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Huyghe, René (1970) [1950]. Watteau: The Artist and His Drawings. Translated by Barbara Bray. New York: Braziller.
• Mantz, Paul (1892). Antoine Watteau. Paris: Librairie illustrée. pp. 88, 182. OCLC 742536514 – via the Internet Archive.
• Mollett, John William (1883). Watteau. Illustrated Biographies of the Great Artists. London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. p. 66, cat. no. 88. OCLC 557720162 – via the Internet Archive.
• Nicoll, Allardyce (1963). The World of Harlequin: A Critical Study of the Commedia dell'Arte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 78, fig. 51. OCLC 1151791894 – via the Internet Archive.
• Phillips, Claude (1895). Antoine Watteau. London: Seeley and co. Limited. pp. 72. OCLC 729123867 – via the Internet Archive.
• Plax, Julie Anne (2000). Watteau and the Cultural Politics of Eighteenth-Century France. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-64268-X. OCLC 803847893.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Posner, Donald (1984). Antoine Watteau. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 57–58, 206, 208, 224–25, 258, 288 n. 16, colorpl. 48. ISBN 0-8014-1571-3. OCLC 10736607 – via the Internet Archive.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Réau, Louis (1928–1930). "Watteau". In Dimier, Louis (ed.). Les peintres français du XVIII-e siècle: Histoire des vies et catalogue des œuvres (in French). 1. Paris: G. Van Oest. p. 39, cat. no. 107. OCLC 564527521.
• Somof, A. (1903). Ermitage imperial. Catalogue de la Galerie des tableaux. Troisième partie: école anglaise et ècole française. St. Petersburg: La Companie d'Imprimerie artistique. pp. 107–108, cat. no. 1503 – via the Internet Archive.
• Sterling, Charles (1958) [first published in 1957]. Great French Painting in the Hermitage. Translated from French by Christopher Ligota. New York: Harry N. Abrams. OCLC 598217.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sund, Judy (September 2016). "Why So Sad? Watteau's Pierrots". The Art Bulletin. 98 (3): 321–347. JSTOR 43947931.
• Waagen, G. F. (1870). Die Gemäldesammlung in der Kaiserlichen Eremitage zu St. Petersburg : nebst Bemerkungen über andere dortige Kunstsammlungen (in German) (2nd ed.). St. Petersburg: H. Schmitzdorff. pp. 304–305, cat. no. 1503 – via the Internet Archive.
• Weiner, P. P. von, ed. (1923). Meisterwerke der Gemäldesammlung in der Eremitage zu Petrograd (in German). München: F. Hanfstaengl. p. 284. OCLC 741513217 – via the Internet Archive.
• Wile, Aaron (September 2014). "Watteau, Reverie, and Selfhood". The Art Bulletin. 96 (3): 319–337. JSTOR 43188883.

External links

• Baejter, Katherine (2010). "Mezzetin". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved May 23, 2020.